A law passed in this year's regular legislative session required districts with fewer than 350 students to merge before April 1. Of the state's 308 school districts, 57 were below the 350-student threshold.

Legislators agreed to consolidate schools with fewer than 350 students after a yearlong battle that began with Gov. Mike Huckabee announcing his plan to consolidate high schools in districts with fewer than 1,500.

Huckabee argued consolidation was needed to save money and to ensure Arkansas high school students could access a variety college preparatory classes.

Rural Arkansans and the legislators representing them argued that closing small high schools would rip the hearts out of many small towns.

Under the new consolidation law, the state Board of Education will pick partners by June 1 for districts that did not meet Thursday's deadline.

Biggers-Reyno, Carthage, Delaplaine, Holly Grove, Huttig, Lake View and Sparkman did not reach merger agreements before the deadline. Only Huttig failed to file papers notifying the state that it had no partner.

Holly Grove superintendent Harry Mayo said he spent all day Thursday trying to complete a last-minute merger plan with DeValls Bluff but time ran out.

"We could not find a partner. We tried with several districts but had no success," he said.

The biggest problem in convincing other districts to merge with his district is that Holly Grove's teacher salaries are below that of surrounding school districts and neighboring districts did not want the expense of raising the salaries, Mayo said.

Lake View, the district that sued the state in 1992 and prompted the legal battle that led to the new consolidation law, had many of the same problems as Holly Grove, said superintendent Clausey Myton.

Some neighboring districts have average teacher salaries more than $15,000 more than those in Lake View, he said.

Myton said his district tried to merge with Fayetteville, Rogers and Springdale to show that children in the Mississippi Delta deserve the same educational opportunities as those in prosperous Northwest Arkansas.

He said only Fayetteville gave his request serious consideration.

Thursday's missed deadline was the latest in 12 years of turmoil between Lake View and the state.

"Why can't the state solve this problem and educate 162 kids? How difficult can that be? We feel the wealth and the technology should be shared across the state," he said.

Special masters appointed by the state Supreme Court to review the Legislature's compliance with the court's order to overhaul Arkansas' unconstitutionally inadequate school system are set to report their findings this week.

Attorneys for the Lake View district have argued that legislators did not do enough to address disparities in the educational opportunities of children across the state.

"It's frustrating that the state wants to erase us away when we have raised these issues," Myton said.